In the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, vias are often used to interconnect back-side and front-side metallization. More specifically, lateral semiconductor devices can be radio or microwave frequency devices or power devices. Some examples are lateral High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs), lateral Field Effect Transistors (FETs), lateral Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs), and lateral Schottky diodes. Using a lateral HEMT as an example, the HEMT includes a semiconductor structure that, in one particular implementation, includes a substrate (e.g., a Silicon Carbide (SiC), Silicon (Si), or sapphire substrate), a Gallium Nitride (GaN) base layer on the substrate, and an Aluminum Gallium Nitride (AlGaN) barrier layer on the GaN base layer. A front-side metallization is on a front-side of the semiconductor structure and includes a source contact pad, a gate contact pad, and a drain contact pad of the HEMT. In order to carry large currents and to dissipate heat, the HEMT may also include a back-side metallization that is electrically and thermally connected to the source contact by a via that extends from a back-side of the semiconductor structure to the front-side metallization on the front-side of the semiconductor structure.